Did a microphone at a press briefing catch the audible sound of a fart from Pete Hegseth, the secretary of war? No, that's not true: The press briefing clip published by the Iranian Embassy in Kenya has been edited to include a fart sound effect. The original video published on Instagram on March 13, 2026, the day of the press briefing, did not include a fart sound. Lead Stories reviewed multiple videos from this briefing and none included the sound.
The edited video clip (archived here) was published on X on April 6, 2026 by the verified account of the Embassy of Iran in Kenya, @IRANinKENYA. The post was captioned:
The Strait is opened
This is a screenshot of the video on X:
(Image source: @IRANinKENYA post on X.)
A text overlay on the video reads:
White House
Hegseth fart in 4K
Hegseth Fart Moment Goes Viral Online
Awkward fart clip trends across social media
Lead Stories used a digital tool to remove the text overlay in order to find the original video with Google Lens reverse image search. The original video (archived here) was published weeks earlier on Instagram on March 13, 2026 (embedded below). It was published by Elaad Eliahu, whose bio says:
White House correspondent @timcast
In the altered version of this clip, the fart sound occurs in the moment between Hegseth opening his folio and adjusting the microphone. In the original video posted by Eliahu, there is no fart sound at that time.
Additional videos from the Associated Press (archived here) and Wall Street Journal (archived here) captured the press briefing from other angles, with clear audio that picked up the distinct sounds of papers rustling, the microphone stand creaking, and water bottles placed gently on the lectern -- but there is no fart sound.
